‘To understand the man, you need to understand where he has come from.’
‘What do you suppose that means?’ Darnell asked. ‘We know where he’s from, right here. What does this guy want us to know?’
‘He could mean his parents, I suppose, or even his grandparents? Who knows how far he wants us to go back. His grandfather was a Quaker, who moved over here from England. I hope he doesn’t want us to fly there.’ Vanessa sighed, anticipating further travel with her disagreeable colleague; the journey over from Springfield was bad enough.
‘Maybe we should spend a little time focusing on his father. What do we know about Thomas Lincoln?’
‘He was an average Joe, a carpenter by trade. Born 1778, died 1851. He struggled to get work and was fairly poor.’ Vanessa recited before having an epiphany. ‘He was born in Virginia, do you think he wants us to go there?’
Darnell stroked his chin before shaking his head.
‘Not yet, I’m sure we’ll end up over that way at some point anyway if we’re following Lincoln’s life. I’d rather not go over twice. I think there’s something we’re missing here. Maybe we could check out the records on his family.’
They found Gareth and asked him for any references on Thomas Lincoln and he obliged by taking them to the research centre, which was usually closed to the public.
‘We only allow academics in here,’ he said as they walked through into the laboratory. To their left was row upon row of books of varying ages; some appeared new, fresh out of a Barnes & Noble, while others were older than Lincoln himself.
To their right, historians in white lab coats observed artefacts through microscopes, picking up broken text passages with tweezers as they attempted to assemble what now looked like a jigsaw puzzle rather than a letter from Lincoln.
Gareth located an aisle which was labelled Family Tree, which focused on Lincoln’s ancestors, going back to their humble beginnings in Norfolk, England. The detectives appeared daunted by what they had let themselves in for as there was certainly not a shortage of research on the family, despite little being known about Lincoln’s childhood in Kentucky.
‘Don’t worry,’ Gareth laughed as he spotted their apprehension. ‘This isn’t all on Thomas.’ He grabbed a large box off a shelf, filled with books and letters written by Lincoln in plastic wallets. He blew the dust off the top of the cardboard box and handed it to the detectives. ‘We don’t have many people looking down this aisle, which is a shame really.’
Inside the box were letters and documents dating back to the early 1800s. They were handed protective gloves which they put on to begin handling the historic artefacts.
‘I’ll leave you to get on with whatever you’re looking for.’ He tipped his cap and walked out of the research centre.
Eager to get down to business, Vanessa began to unload the box and read through the contents. There were letters between Lincoln and his friends, detailing stories of his father as a young child. A typical Kentucky family life appeared on the paper before them and little sparked any ideas in regards to the direction they needed to follow.
A final document at the bottom of the box did catch their attention however. It was like the other letters they’d read through; discoloured, torn and held a stale aroma. However unlike the other pages they had read through, it had a mark at the top. The same symbol they’d spotted at the Lincoln grave and in the email to Darnell. Vanessa’s heart raced.
‘I can’t believe this! It’s the same symbol. Do you think he was here?’ Darnell asked, wiping away the moisture from his temple.
‘I’m guessing so, but look, read the contents.’
The letter detailed Lincoln’s grandfather’s journey to America, which was in line with the American tale which most families of his generation could tell. But there was a story which caught the detectives’ eyes. Within the letter, Lincoln describes his own father’s lack of paternal guidance. Abraham’s grandfather had been murdered by a Skulking Indian, which left Thomas Lincoln emotionally numb towards his own children. The passage continued to explain that Thomas Lincoln himself had been kidnapped by the Indian who had murdered his father. Thomas’s brother, Modecai, killed the Indian and rescued his brother. Modecai maintained vengeful feelings towards Indians for the rest of his life. Despite his inherently racist views, Lincoln described his uncle as a talented man who had the most important influence over him.
‘Have you heard this story before?’ Darnell turned to Vanessa.
‘No, it’s the first I’ve heard of it. I wonder why it’s marked though,’ Vanessa mused. ‘Let’s ask one of the techies.’ She nodded towards an Asian lady in her a white lab coat. She was no taller than five feet and had shoulder-length shiny black hair. A badge on her breast pocket stated her name was Katherine.
‘We need your help, if you don’t mind. We found this letter but it has this mark on it. Did Lincoln do this?’
Katherine took the letter out of the detective’s hands and read over the content. Her eyes widened and she gasped as she took in the stain at the top of the letter.
‘I can tell you that Lincoln definitely didn’t put this mark on the letter,’ Katherine replied with an air of certainty.
‘How can you be so sure?’
‘Well for one thing, it was drawn on with a biro. They didn’t have them back in his day. I would say this was pretty recent too. This is damage to historic records, it’s a very serious offence.’ Katherine marched over to her desk and lifted her magnifying glass to review the mark closer. The detectives followed.
‘We’ll need to take this letter with us to review it for fingerprints,’ Darnell said, taking the letter
